Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics released last week show that crime on Towson University’s campus is at its lowest point in nearly two decades.
Total Part I crimes at the university—robbery, assault, burglary, theft and other categories—are down more than 14% from 2012, despite increased enrollment. The university had one violent crime and 117 property crimes for a total of 118 Part I crimes in 2013. This marks the lowest number of Part I crimes on campus since 1995. Part I crimes are criminal offenses that universities are required to track and report.
Crime reports off-campus fall to the jurisdiction of their local agencies, most commonly Baltimore County Police.
Within the University System of Maryland, TU has had the lowest number of Part I crimes per capita for the past five consecutive years. USM crime comparisons for 2013 will be available this spring.
“Safety starts with awareness,” said TU Assistant Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police Bernard Gerst. “We encourage the campus community to sign up for crime alerts, watch the emergency preparedness and campus safety videos, and follow good crime prevention tactics like traveling in groups to help reduce the instances of crime.”
The crime statistics were released as TUPD received the Governor’s Crime Prevention Award for the 29th consecutive year, more than any other college or university in the state. The department was one of 13 law enforcement agencies in the state honored by the Maryland Community Crime Prevention Institute for outstanding proactive crime prevention. Chief Gerst and Officer Kia Williams accepted the award on behalf of TU.
The full UCR report is available on the TUPD website.
Written by Pam Gorsuch
